A Case Of Denial
by AllTheEmotions
Summary: NICK AND JESS. My first attempt at a fanfic. Nick and Jess are both in denial about their feelings but they soon have to face them. Please excuse any spelling/grammatical errors, and reviews are welcome! -Enjoy-
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

**JESS' POV **

It had been a long day at work; starting a new teaching job was always hard. The kids were new, the rules were new, the staff members were new. It was a lot of new for one day. Jess threw down her keys on the stand by the door as she entered the loft, hands full of books and papers to mark. _Work already, boy these kids really are behind. I guess making a difference isn't always __easy;__ at least it's worth it. _She didn't have the time or patience for any of the guys tonight, the students in her newly assigned class had taken it out of her, and her patience had suffered greatly because of it. Stomping slightly she headed towards her room without even glancing to see where her roommates were, Jess was not the type of person to get angry easily but she could not promise herself she wouldn't snap tonight.

"Hey Jess, have you seen my-"Schmidt was cut off by the slamming of her bedroom door.

"Sorry Schmidt" she mumbled to herself as she emptied the contents of her hand onto her brightly painted work desk, and kicked off her ballet flats. "Not today."

Usually she loved her job; it was very rewarding to help the younger generation bloom into flowers. _Children are the future__! W__e need to make sure they don't all turn out __crazy. _Her words echoed around her mind. Today was different, her morning was rushed because Winston had taken the batteries out of her alarm for his camping lantern and hadn't told her. Everyone had figured out he was afraid of the dark but he was too proud to admit it, so instead of all chipping in to buy him a new bedside lamp after his had been broken in a very frivolous game of True American, they taunted him about it instead. Jess had paid the price and had arrived to her new job late and un-showered. _Not a good start._

Jess collapsed onto her bed and burrowed under the flower patterned duvet. "Pull yourself together Jessica Day, this is not you." Of course Winston's antics weren't the only thing that had soured her milk, things with Nick had been strange recently and she couldn't get her head around it. Everything he did seemed to entice her, especially the way her gargled his beer, and she notice herself staring at him a little longer than normal and thinking about him more often too. "Nick is my friend, I'm not going to ruin things. I don't like him. I do not like Nickolas Miller, not one bit." As much as she told herself this, she knew it wasn't true. She would have stayed under her cover all night if it wasn't for a knock on her bedroom door. Not just any knock, the familiar knock of Nick. _Damn it Jess, you even recognize his knock. Cut it out all ready. _With a sigh she rolled out of her bed, curls out of place from the weight of the duvet, and today's choice of a red dress slightly skew-if. "Just a minute" she called adjusting her image, then reaching out she braced herself for the figure stood on the other side of the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

**NICK'S POV**

It was very rare that Jess arrived home in a bad mood; it was one of the things Nick adored about her. So he was surprised when she got home from work and marched straight from the front door to her own bedroom door without so much as a hello.

"Hey Jess, have you seen my-"Schmidt tried asking but was rejected by the closing of her door. "Well that was rude. I was only going to ask if she had seen my hair chutney. I am going on a very important business meeting tonight, if you know what I mean, and this hair isn't going to sculpt itself."

Nick wasn't listening, he was too preoccupied with trying to figure out what was wrong with Jess.

"Hello, anybody there?" Schmidt clicked his fingers in front of Nicks face and he was soon pulled out of his mind back into the room. "Did you hear what I said? I'm going on a business meeting. My business" he gestured to his crotch "is going to be met. It's going to be met all night long." He drawled.

"Jar Schmidt!" Nick yelled in disgust and pointed across the room to the table where a discarded jam jar sat stuffed half full with dollars.

"Okay fine." Schmidt said, waving his hand "What is up with everyone tonight?" he said to nobody in particular.

Nick had gone back to wondering about Jess again. He had been doing that a lot recently, but kept telling himself that it was strictly as a friend even though he would wonder from time to time. _Ask her what's up, she's your friend, it's a friendly thing to do. _He jumped up from his seat at the kitchen island and made his way to Jess' door, running through his head what he was going to say and reassuring himself that it was completely platonic. _Hey Jess, you okay? Hey Jess, you okay? _But when he reached the door his nerves got the better of him and began pacing the hall instead, arguing with himself.

"What is wrong with you man? She is your friend and is clearly not okay. All you're doing is seeing if she's okay. It's completely friendly." He said in hushed whispers so nobody would hear him, then stopped dead in his tracks and began shaking his hands and feet jumping a little as he did so. Finally he pulled his turtle face and decided to do it. "Ain't no thang" then quickly rapped on the door three times.

"One minute." Her voice called out from behind the door. _She must be marking, you disturbed her, I knew this was a bad idea._ The door opened revealing a blue eyed Jess with her usual curls framing her face and bangs falling just above her eyes. _She is so beautiful. _He couldn't help but thinking, then quickly realised that seconds had passed and he still hadn't said anything.

"Nick?.." Jess questioned. "Did you want something?"

"Oh yeah, uh.." The whole debate came flooding back into his head; he couldn't ask if she was okay now. _Is that something I would usually do? I wouldn't have done the same for Winston or Schmidt. _"Schmidt wanted to know if you've seen his hair stuff." He blurted out. _Smooth_

"What? No." She looked angry. "Look I have lots of work to do and I still haven't showered today. Can't he just look for it himself?" Was Jess mad at him? All he wanted was to see if she was okay. _Cancel mission, abort, abort!_And with that Nick pulled his familiar turtle face again and moonwalked across the hall, fumbled for the door handle and retreated into his room.

"Ugh. That was not cool. Why did I do that?" He squirmed, balling his hands and pulling them up to his forehead. "Why did you have to fall for your roommate?"


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

_**A/N: This chapter is only short but it felt necessary to add to the plot. Enjoy!**_

**JESS' POV**

Jess was left stood confused at her bedroom door after Nick had panic moonwalked away. _He only does that when he's nervous, I couldn't have scared him that much. I didn't mean to snap. _She exhaled and headed to the bathroom for her shower, marking could wait. It was days like this that she wished that not just Winston had agreed on installing a bath, it was bad enough just sharing a bathroom at times. Schmidt's lotions virtually filled every free surface. _That is one well groomed man, not like Nick, but I like that about Nick. _There she was, thinking about him again. She shook the thought of him from her head and stepped into the switched off shower before getting undressed and dumping her clothes on the other side of the shower curtain.

"Just forget about him." Jess hadn't meant to say it out loud but nobody was around to hear so she didn't stop. The shower clicked on when she pressed the button releasing a jet of warm water which she walked into. Tilting her head back she let the water stream down her face and wash away most of her stress.

"You do not like him. Sure he is the kind of rugged hansom that you like, with his body hair and his cute cookie pooch stomach. That doesn't mean you like him." She reached for her bottle of strawberry scented shampoo, squeezed some into her hand and massaged into her tangle of hair. "Just because you think about him a lot during the day and when you're feeling twirly doesn't mean anything either." She rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and proceeded to condition. "You can't like him like that. It would just mess things up." Jess sighed. "Nick Miller what have you done to my mind."

The clanking of plastic bottles hitting the floor quickly pulled her out of her thoughts, someone was in the bathroom. _Oh no. _She yanked the shower curtain around her body and peaked out to see who it was but they had already fled the scene. _They heard, they must have heard. Oh no. _She finished her shower then retreated back to her room closing the door firmly behind her. _Who was it? _She couldn't face seeing them, not if one of them knew. _But there's nothing to know, I don't like Nick. Do I? _Jess got changed into her flannel pyjamas and brought some of her student's books onto her bed to mark. _What I need right now is a distraction, marking books is perfect for the job._

After two hours had passed she couldn't concentrate anymore, thoughts of Nick were swirling around her head and the events from earlier that night. _Who was in the bathroom, who heard?_ Everything was going wrong; she had to find out who it was, but how? She'd worry about that tomorrow. _I have to sleep. _Jess checked the batteries in her alarm clock and climbed into bed, hopefully her dreams would be Nick free. _I'd be surprised._


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**NICKS POV**

Nick waited for the sounds of Jess' light footsteps to pass down the hallway before emerging from his room the next day. Waking early was not something Nick did but he had barley slept a wink after the events the previous night.

"You can't avoid her forever" He mumbled to himself as he left his room and went to go get himself some toast. Only he and Winston were left in the loft now, the other two had normal jobs unlike Nick who was a bar tender, and Winston who was virtually unemployed.

"Hey Nick." Winston greeted him as he took a place next to him on their 'L' shaped sofa.

"Did Jess seem, I don't know, angry to you this morning?" Nick frowned.

"Jess? Come on Nick, when is Jess ever angry?" He chuckled to himself. Nick had already told himself this thousands of times during his sleepless night. "This morning nobody really saw her much, she stayed in her room longer than usual and then left pretty much straight away." Winston mused. "I wonder if she remembered to replace the batteries in her alarm clock?" This time he was saying it to himself.

"Hmm." There was no way around it, Nick had to ask for a bystanders opinion. He took a bite out of his toast and slouched down on the couch. _Stupid Nick, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. _

He hadn't meant to listen into Jess' conversation, in fact he hadn't even realised she was in the shower. _Maybe she was talking about a different Nick Miller? _He had only gone in to brush his teeth, when he realised Jess was in there he couldn't leave, it was like he had been glued to the spot. If it wasn't for all of Schmidt's beauty products he wouldn't have been caught out. _You haven't been caught out yet, dummy. She doesn't know it was you, you left before she could see. _

"Winston can I urm, ask you something?" He would try to be as discrete and causal as possible.

"Yeah?" This was it, _play it cool._

"Say you had this.. Friend. Any you heard this friend talking about.. About.." Nick wracked his brain for the right words to say. _Don't give it away. _"About how much she liked.. Gnomes-"

"Gnomes?"

"-and you yourself was a plastic gnome."

"Nick what are you talking about?" Winston was already confused but Nick continued to babble on.

"The thing is, you weren't supposed to hear what this.. Friend.. Was saying about gnomes, but you accidentally knocked over all of Schm-"Quickly he realised what he was about to say. "-anters fancy bottles of soap. So she, I mean the friend, knows that someone was listening but doesn't know who. What would you do?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Is this about a girl?" Had he given it away? "Are you telling me you heard someone taking about how much they like you by accident?"

"Well." Nick didn't know how to respond.

"And you like her too?-"

"Hold on a sec!" Nick cut in. "I never said anything about liking jess! I mean, not Jess, definitely not Jess. Pfft, shut up Winston you joker" He laughed nervously.

"Right." Winston paused. "So who is this girl then?"

"It's urm, it Yolanda.. Yolanda Winston." Nick really couldn't lie, but Winston would believe anything.

"Then you have to tell her Nick! Don't let her slip through your fingers. I mean look at you, when are you going to find another girl that _likes you_?"

"Hey!" But Winston was right, he had to tell Jess. He'd do it when she got back from work. "Thanks Winston, you're a great pal. Now let's go get you a new bedside lamp."

"I am _not _afraid of the dark!-"

"I didn't say you were you dummy." And with that they were up getting ready for today's adventure.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**A/N: This isn't my best chapter, but I felt like I needed to update it. Hopefully you won't hate it that much. I promise the next chapter will make up for it!**

**NICK'S POV**

After Nick and Winston had arrived home all Nick had done was think about how he would tell Jess about his feelings. He couldn't just tell her, Jess deserved more than that, he wanted to do something that would impress her. He'd spent the whole day writing down his ideas on the back of napkins and had come to the conclusion that he would take her some place, although he knew asking would be difficult.

Jess arrived home from work, this time her face presented a smile but she still seemed a little edgy. Nick got to work straight away, waiting for her to be alone. He didn't have to wait long before she wondered off to her room.

_Go man, go. Now's your chance. Do it just like we practiced, it doesn't have to be awkward. _Like the night before he hopped up off of the sofa and headed towards her room, walking with a quick pace so he couldn't back out.

"Jess it's me." He knocked three times, stepped back and waited. This time she answered the door almost straight away, Nick would never get used to her beauty. The first thing that came into sight was her hip and shoulder, as the door pulled open more of her was revealed until she was standing in front of him. Today she was fashioning a black skirt and a stripy top, her hair was in its usual curled style and her eyes were as blue as ever. _You are so beautiful. _If he could, Nick would marvel at her beauty all day, but it wasn't long before his doubt began to creep in. _You could have any guy you want, why would you want me? _He could feel his palms become slippery with sweat, he had to say something now that he had nocked. Jess began to look at him with a puzzled look. _Say something._

"Hey Jess. Jessica. The J bomb. J Day. Jessica Day." He tried to pull his most convincing smile but he could feel his nerves giving him away. "Yeah I can't do this." Nick decided and quickly turned away, escaping into his room across the hall.

Once the door was between him and Jess his head began to clear, he sat on the edge of his bed, head in his hands and began to speak out loud.

"You have to man up." Then an idea came to him. Nick walked across his room to a desk with heaps of bits and bobs dumped on it. "There has to be some paper around here somewhere." He said whilst rummaging through the draws. Finally he found a discarded letter from the bank and scribbled on the back 'Meet me out front in five?' with a black ballpoint pen. "This will have to do."

Nick waited until it was dark before he got ready to post his handmade note. He grabbed a bag and speeded towards the kitchen, keeping his head down as he passed Jess' room. First he had to put some food together. _What does Jess like to eat? _He grabbed the carton of strawberries from the fridge and plopped them in his bag. _She always eats strawberries. _Next he proceeded to make some sandwiches, the filling of which consisted of peanut butter and tuna. _She is gonna love you, you __charmer__, you__. _Nick laughed to himself, his plan was coming together. After he had gathered some salted pretzels, and ginger biscuits, he had to find a way to take her where he wanted.

When Nick needed to drive somewhere he would ask Schmidt if he could borrow his car, Schmidt never said no to Nick. He was sat at the dining table, alternating between watching Nick and tapping away on his laptop keys.

"What are you up to Nick? This is not like you." Another thing about Schmidt was he never missed a thing, after living with Nick for so long he could read him like a book.

"I was wondering if I could borrow your car for a little while?" He asked.

"Just because you're my brother from another mother and I love you. Have fun you little scamp. But be careful! If I find even the smallest of scratches I will become hell to live with" He tossed the keys to him and smiled a smile you'd expect to see on a child.

"You're already hell to live with Schmidt." Nick called back to him, he had already begun walking down to Jess' room. This time he'd do it, without hesitation he slipped the note underneath her door and ran away before she could catch him.

The wait to see if Jess would turn up was a long one, Nick's head was filled with doubts. _It's too late to back out now. _To his slight disbelief she showed like he had instructed, wearing her pink coat to shelter her from the cool night.

"Hey Nick, what's going on?" Jess' voice was like bird song in Nicks ears. He wouldn't explain everything straight away because he didn't want her to leave just yet.

"Oh, well I felt like going on a drive and I thought 'you know who likes drives? Jess'" Feeling like he needed to sell it more, he lifted the bag in his hand to eye level. "I brought food, thought we could make a night of it." Jess smiled at this.

"You made a picnic? Well I can't say no now. I know you Nick, there's a reason behind this isn't there?" She was beginning to look nervous which only made her look cuter in Nick's eyes.

"Actually I need to talk to ya. I wanted to do it the right way, so will you come with me?" Now Nick was feeling nervous too. She nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. Maybe things would work out. _Don't chicken out now Nick, get in there. _He got in the car and started up the engine. "Off we go."

"Adventure is out there!" Jess mimicked in her best voice from UP, and that was it, they drove.


End file.
